|
Government overheads soar by a fifth  IRELAND
paid a record-breaking €100million-plus to run the Dáil and Seanad
last year nearly €25 for every man, woman and child in the state.
And the cost is set to go higher this year.
Running costs for 2006 are provisionally €101.7million according
to a report from the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission compared to €97.3million
a year earlier.
Most spending is on pay and pensions and other fixed costs with 8 per
cent going on committed expenditure such as basic IT requirements.
The Oireachtas estimate for this year will be up by more than a fifth
on last year largely due to severance and pension costs associated with
the general election.
The Houses of the Oireachtas are staffed by over 400 civil and public
servants.
There are also 346 political staff working either in Leinster House or
in constituency offices who are employed directly by the members for whom
they work and paid for by the Commission.
Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue said the Commission report detailed
the innovations that were made last year to provide taxpayers with value
for money.
These include the introduction of webcasting, the rapid placing of House
records online, longer hours of access to Leinster House, the opening
of a new creche facility and a dramatic increase in visitor numbers.
There was also a facility to publish enacted legislation in both official
languages simultaneously and a new active programme of value for money
and audit reviews, he said.
“As the new Ceann Comhairle I am keen to see further change and
reform of how Parliament works and I look forward to working to bring
this about,” said Mr O’Donoghue.
Last year saw 42 Acts passed by the Oireachtas, nearly 41,000 Parliamentary
Questions processed, 531 committee meetings held and 191 reports produced.
There were over 2,100 hours of debate. |
